Research for Title

To find the font I wanted to use I did a little bit of research, this time I looked for the most commonly used fonts in the film industry. I found a font called Trajan Pro, films the likes of Titanic, I am Legend, A Beautiful Mind and many more have used this font, in the images below you can see this very clearly that all the fonts are the same. They have used a very simple font, unlike the font which I had that was very uncommon and quite bold, and was a rick due to this. To my surprise this font was available on Photoshop under the same name “Trajan Pro”. 

The films here are not of horror genre however there are horror films which use this font such as The Possession, Nightmare on Elm Street and the recent film Mama. Although they have used the same font it looks different because they have made it different, well The Possession has but Mama has kept it simple and not applied any effects. The Possession has like speckles around the font which I like, I won’t be using this exact effect but this has given me the idea to make my title look different from others. I will add a bit of glow around the font so that font doesn't look too perfect. 

Here is another horror film remake which has used the same font. The 1984 version which is the first image has not used this font, this may be because at that time it wasn't so popular, the font is more like the font I was going to use to begin with the same kind of color also. In the 2010 version I noticed it is used and it has a similar effect to The Possession title, where it has little speckles but not as much as that. Again the font doesn't look too perfect, like you can tell on the two EE that not every little bit is filled it looks a little patchy. 

This research here as helped me a lot, as I know which font is popular on DVD covers/posters. I can now envision the font and the things which I can do with the font to make it different and not too perfect with the original look of the font.  

Links to images:

Movie which have used the font: http://wescomer.com/2012/06/27/quick-tip-font-pairings/ 

The possession: http://www.impawards.com/2012/possession.html 

Mama :http://fontmeme.com/mama-font/  

Nightmare on Elm Street 1984: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street 

Nightmare on Elm Street 2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_(2010_film) 

Creating Blood Splatters

Using the Brush Tool 

Now that I had my hand image over the face, I decided to place some blood splatters around the hands. 

As you may tell that you don’t get this kind of result when using the default brush settings, I changed these settings. I turned on shape dynamics, scattering, texture and dual brush, I changed the default settings on these until I liked the look of the preview which was displayed under the settings. I wanted the blood to slightly scatter and I didn't want the blood to be too big in size and wanted it to look as realistic as possible. The blood is placed under the picture with the hands, like its dripping but there are no drops. 

Creating Montage for Front Cover

Using the Gradient Tool, Blending Modes, Spot Healing Brush and Adjustment Layers 

To begin with I loaded my front cover image I was working on previously. When I saw the image on screen in a different format I didn't like the look of the text, I thought it looked very messy, then looking back at my research I noticed not one of the DVD covers have such bold font like mine does. So I decided that I would remove the font using the spot healing brush, although the spot healing brush did a good job I was not too worried about how it would look because I would apply effects which would hide this.

Image without title: The image is within the guidelines

Another decision I made which may be different from my original plans, is I felt that my front image was lacking something like another image over it or something. So I decided to look for further research into DVD covers, to try and find something which could inspire me. I came across a DVD cover for the film called Drag me to hell, which had hands pulling the person with fire surrounding like the person is dragged to hell, as the title says. (image of this is below) 

I liked this idea, so I searched to find a good image to place over my current image making it blend using a gradient tool. I simply searched into Google "grabbing hands" and on the first page I found exactly what I was looking for although I was hesitant at first because the image is black but I can change this using the different blend modes. 

       (Drag me to hell)                                    (Grabbing hands)                                                      

Currently in the screenshot you can see that I have it just over my front image. The hands image crosses over to the spine only a little bit so it isn't cut too much due to the bend. As explained before this is the reason why I have masked the spine and front together. To this image now I applied a layer mask, I selected the gradient tool which allowed the image to go from black to white, to create this effect I draw the gradient line from on top of my hands image to about half way. From the screenshot you can see that the dark part of the image was still quite strong, so I turned out the opacity and fill, to 55% and 25%, this looked a lot better than before. Although the image looked a lot better I still wanted to play around with the different tools to see what I could do to make it even better as it still didn't stand out to me. I added a new adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation and changed the Saturation and Lightness a little. I also added another adjustment layer for the Color Balance and changed the Blend Mode to Color Dodge which made a big difference to the image.       

Currently in the screenshot you can see that I have it just over my front image. The hands image crosses over to the spine only a little bit so it isn't cut too much due to the bend. As explained before this is the reason why I have masked the spine and front together. To this image now I applied a layer mask, I selected the gradient tool which allowed the image to go from black to white, to create this effect I draw the gradient line from on top of my hands image to about half way. From the screenshot you can see that the dark part of the image was still quite strong, so I turned out the opacity and fill, to 55% and 25%, this looked a lot better than before. Although the image looked a lot better I still wanted to play around with the different tools to see what I could do to make it even better as it still didn't stand out to me. I added a new adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation and changed the Saturation and Lightness a little. I also added another adjustment layer for the Color Balance and changed the Blend Mode to Color Dodge which made a big difference to the image as you may tell from the image. It gave a nice front cover effect, like front covers should stand up against other DVD covers on the shelf, I feel like this effect has helped that.   

Overall I am glad I made the changes with the front cover text and the added image. If I had left it with how it was to begin with it was have looked plain because horror films cover need to stand out to the eye. 

Links to images:

Drag me to hell: http://www.filmdetail.com/2009/10/27/competition-win-drag-me-to-hell-on-dvd/

Grabbing hands: http://jzcj5.deviantart.com/art/Grabbing-Hands-69392962   

Masking Back of Cover and Front and Spine

I decided to create groups in Photoshop these are like files that help to organise the different layers that I will have. I created two groups one is for the front panel and spine, and the other group is for the back panel. All the layers which are on the different panels will be organised into the different groups. By doing this I could create a layer mask for the different layers to be stored in.

I hide all of layer on the front and spine group which means I masked everything, I then selected the front and spine and deleted what was selected. This meant that the front and spine was not masked, just leaving the back hidden/masked. When I did this it made only the front and spine visible and everything that is on the back should be masked out. As an object is moved outside the mask it is no longer be visible, this helps to keep the front and spine separate. I did the same thing to the back, except I selected the back and deleted the mask that was applied to this.

The reason why I masked the spine and front together is because I will be importing another image over my current front cover image which may cross over to the spine so for this reason I do not want the image to be cut.

Creating Dvd Cover Template in Photoshop

I have set up a DVD template which will be used for my DVD cover, this template will contain guidelines which will separate the front panel from the back and the spine which is right in between these two. This will be as accurate as possible as it must meet the correct Amaray Inlay which would be used for an official DVD cover. The requirements for creating this is:

• The printed paper sleeve for a standard DVD case can be printed on a standard A4 of paper 

• The size of the front and back panels of the case is 129.5mm × 183mm and spine panels have a width of 14mm or less.

• Bleed areas must be 3.175mm all around.

• Text and images should be at least 1.5875mm from any edge

• Projects need to be at least 300 DPI in the CMYK colour space

To begin creating this I open a new project in Photoshop, and changed the canvas size from its default one which Photoshop had set. Notice I have also changed the colour mode from RGB to CYMK Color because CYMK is specifically used for printing image. 

DVD Cover Layout with Sketches

Before I began creating my DVD cover I created a layout of how I wanted my DVD cover to look like, the positioning of my image against others, logo, text. This layout will be just a rough plan as I may want to add stuff within the cover.

FRONT:I plan to have my image that I have been working on to go on the front of the DVD cover, this will be the whole of the image, I will not cut any of it out. The text at the front as I have discussed I will have as Trajan Pro, this will contain some effects like a glow or something that will make it stand out. Under this I plan to have the words "Based on a true story" in a much smaller font. 

SPINE: Across the spine I will have the title again, the exact same. With all the effects that have been used on the front cover. Then under this I will have the age rating and a DVD logo. 

BACK: As for the back of the cover, I will have the tagline at the top. Then under this I will have some images, from the scenes, perhaps a character. Then after all this I will have text, the text here will be descriptive to the film itself. Then I will have some credits and information about the film rating etc. 

DVD Cover Research

DVD Cover
I have looked at a number of horror type DVD cover which I can get inspiration from when I begin to create my own DVD cover. The film covers I have chosen are from quite popular films, this was so I could create something as good.

A coherent thing about these covers is that they all have a colour theme and this is shown on the cover, which the way they have selected certain colours. The use of colours is very subtle, like the colour of the font or incorporating certain colours within an image. As I have research most horror films the colours black and red are very commonly used, I will also be using.

Looking into the DVD covers in more details, I have noticed that some films like to use quotes from critics or views of their opinions of the film Like for example paranormal activity have at the front of the cover- “The most anticipated horror even of 2010. Steady nerves. Your sleepless nights are about to return”and the back of the film at the top they have the words- “Paranormal activity 2 succeeds by giving us another dose of what worked the first time around” –quoted by Film.com. Some films have the words “Based on a true story” or something similar. I like this idea it entices the viewer to watch the film and something I will look into doing for my own cover. The front of the cover is usually simple, it uses just one image leaving the back to reveal more images, and contains a title and lines of words.

All four films have on the back of the cover snapshots of images taken from scenes in the movie. I have also noticed they show the faces of the character playing in the film. The set out of the snapshots of three of the movies are the same, so I may look into doing something similar. All of the films also have an overview of the film without giving too much away, this is usually located at the back of the DVD.

Finally all DVD covers must display the DVDs certificate rating, clearly at the front of the film or back, films like to place it on both front and back. Also a barcode usually displayed at the back of the film cover.

Links to images
Masked: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yazminwilliams/5775801162/
One missed call: http://www.getdvdcovers.com/one-missed-call-2008-r2/
The amityville horror: http://s186.beta.photobucket.com/user/cinemink/media/CUSTOM%20DVD%20COVERS/TheAmityvilleHorror2005-CustomDV-1.jpg.html#/user/cinemink/media/CUSTOM%20DVD%20COVERS/TheAmityvilleHorror2005-CustomDV-1.jpg.html?&_suid=136209124103405674909269129706
paranormal activity 2: http://dmpettittdesigns.webs.com/apps/blog/categories/show/1139411-dvd-covers
Film certificates: http://jamesdoc.com/blog/film-certificates